


Underestimated

by fairgraves



Category: Far Cry 5
Genre: FC5BIRTHDAYBASH, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-30
Updated: 2019-03-30
Packaged: 2019-12-26 20:47:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18289946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fairgraves/pseuds/fairgraves
Summary: Jacob, a few of his Chosen, and a couple of his Judges had caught up with the Deputy sometime around dusk a week ago and he had laughed, oh how he had laughed, to see her strung up in the tree, foot caught in a rope trap and long, light brown hair sweeping in the dirt, with a scowl on her face that could strike a man dead.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Beanshiee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beanshiee/gifts).



> Beanshiee, while the Deputy isn't named in this (I figured Jacob wouldn't know it by this point), I definitely had your OC Irina in mind when I wrote this (I put in a few things like hair color, Jacob considering her his protégé for that mentor dynamic you mentioned in your tumblr posts about her, speaking a different language to the wolves, and I assumed that since she already had her own wolf, Lilith, she'd be able to train other wolves as well). Plus, I kind of felt like it set her up to become the Tyrant of the North later if she could control animals! This is far-fetched in assuming wild animals can be trained in a week, but I hope you like this, at least a little. Apologies again for this being a few days late!

         Jacob had underestimated her every step of the way, he could see that now. He had known that she was strong (although he would have never told her as much to her face), but he hadn’t really thought about all the ways she would best him in the end. The endgame was still for her to kill Eli and then himself – he was a necessary sacrifice, if Joseph was to be believed, _a seal to be broken_ – and that plan was coming along well enough now that should wouldn’t be able to stop the it if she even understood what was coming, but there were still little ways that she always managed to surprise him, little ways that managed to _delight_ him in a sinister way.  

         Jacob, a few of his Chosen, and a couple of his Judges had caught up with the Deputy sometime around dusk a week ago and he had laughed, _oh how he had laughed_ , to see her strung up in the tree, foot caught in a rope trap and long, light brown hair sweeping in the dirt, with a scowl on her face that could strike a man dead.

He cut the rope and let her fall to the ground and gave her a warning that the music box would come out and the bliss arrows would fly if she tried anything. She didn’t say a word, but she didn’t really have to anyway; she knew she was outnumbered and her weapons had already been confiscated while she was strung up in the three. She’d have to be an idiot to try to fight her way out of this one. And besides, Jacob knew she worked best when the element of surprise was on her side and she had already lost that for the time being.

         When he thinks back on it later, pouring over the details of the whole thing while the entire Center sleeps, he thinks she probably started hatching her escape scheme then and there as she followed them to the cult truck nearby. As much as her anger fueled her, she was reserved enough to plan. Jacob liked to think that about himself too; the payoff was always sweeter when the plan went to perfection.

         When they had got back to the Center, Jacob had stowed her away in a cage for the night, side by side with his Judges. He let Pratt give her a bowl of meat, pushing the bowl through the bars like he did with all the prisoners, and had watched with satisfaction as she glared at Jacob instead. “Eat up, Deputy. You’ve got a big day ahead of you.”

         The Deputy practically growled in response, but said nothing and refused to eat. Jacob didn’t bother to linger at her cage like normal, preferring instead to prepare for the Deputy’s morning training, but much later on, when everyone should have been asleep, he looked down on her in the yard from his window. The first tip off that she was up to something was the quietness of the hour; usually the wolves yipped and howled at this time of night, a white noise of misery that Jacob was fairly fond of for its consistency alone.

He had strained to see what she was doing in the dark at first, but his eyes quickly adjusted to the lack of light. She was standing, faced towards the wolves in the next cage over and the wolves were lined up at the bars, but they weren’t behaving like wolves at all. They were behaving like obedient dogs. She extended her arm once and they sat. She extended her arm again and they snapped in the air, catching the meat she tossed their way.

It hadn’t occurred to him then that she was training the Judges and admittedly he did not pay much attention to her nightly training sessions for the whole week. He should have.


	2. Chapter 2

The Deputy was something to behold during her training: vicious, capable, efficient. If they had been on the same side, the Resistance would have been squashed ages ago. Jacob followed her along as she made her way through the course, watching from the suspension walkway, above the rooms she traipsed through. She raised the gun he left for her on the course and rarely hesitated to shoot, killing the other nameless recruits and running down through the maze he’s created for her to run. He noticed after the third run or so that she’s most comfortable with scoped weapons, and the best with the SA-50 sniper rifle, so he leaves her that more often than not. The end sacrifice is the only one she usually has trouble doing, her finger poised over the trigger, panting from the exercise, but she took the shot. She _always_ took the shot.  

         Around noon, Jacob calls it for the day, to the relief of everyone. She had to be hungry and she has been doing so well that if let her keep going no recruits would be left by the end of the day. He gathered her up in his entourage of Pratt, another Chosen named Isaac, and a couple of Judges to head back the Center, but they don’t get too far before the Deputy makes her move.

         She threw a hard kick into Isaac’s calf, just below his knee, and in a fluid motion on his way down, she grabs a gun from his holster. She clicks her finger once and says something in a language Jacob doesn’t completely recognize (it’s a Nordic language of some kind, that he’s sure of, but which he doesn’t know) and the Judges at Jacob’s side immediately turn on their master and snarl at Isaac on the ground. The whole thing happened quick enough that even Jacob had no time to pull a weapon from his own holster.

 _This_ is when the horrible revelation sets in, a week too late: she had been training the Judges at night when they were in their cages. _Of course_.

         The Deputy unclicked the safety of the gun and held it up toward Jacob, a glint in her eye. He recognized the expression – _pride_. He should have been furious or embarrassed or both for her getting the upper hand on him, but he wasn’t. He feels proud too. As sure as Joseph was that the Deputy would cause the Collapse because God told him so, Jacob was sure of it now more than ever. His protégé. The way he will live on long after he is gone.  

         “Get on your knees,” she commanded, voice lower than normal, “And don’t even think about grabbing for that music box, Jacob, or so help me these wolves will tear off both you and your minion’s faces.”

         Jacob complied with her demand, but chided her, “Deputy, do you have any idea at just how much trouble you’re in?”

         She shrugged. “Doesn’t matter to me, old man.”

         “There’s no place you can run, that I can’t find you. You know that right?”

         She smiled wickedly, “How about Holland Valley, Jacob? Are you going to cross over into another herald’s territory to find me there?”

         _Smart ass_. When he didn’t respond, she laughed and began to back away from the group, her eyes never leaving his until she entered the truck and sped away, loose gravel and dirt flying up from the tires. By the time a search party was out and gunning for her, she had already crossed over into the Valley and disappeared.    


End file.
